Customer Comment Card In The Comment Box example essay topic

The Case of the Fired Waitress In business it is important the a company establish some clear order of business when dealing with business ethics. Ethical business practices can build customer relationships. Unethical business practices can cause a business to lose customers. In this case study the reader will be come familiar with the ethical practice of a Red lobster store in Pleasant Hill, Pennsylvania. Problem / Issue Identification A waitress at the local Pennsylvania Red Lobster served a African American couple. The wife order prime rib and was not pleased with the rib or the serve of the waitress.

After paying for the meal she submitted a customer comment card in the comment box. The waitress then took the comment card from the box and destroyed it. This incident caused the waitress her job. She was fired.

We can assume from this case that the waitress did not want the incident known. She may have taken other comment cards and have never been caught. We can also assume this is an isolated incident that the waitress made a big mistake. Looking at the ethical issues a comment box should be managed by the manager or higher. Restaurant employees should not have access to this box at all. The store does not have procedures that secure customer comments.

This is related to Consumer Stakeholders and External Stakeholder issues. The major overriding issues are that the company does not provide the consumer with a secure input source. The consumer freedom to critic the serve is being violated, which can lead to the lose of customers. The company does have policies in place but the procedures to ensure the procedure are followed are not developed.

The sub issues here is that this is not just an incident that is individual. This is a situation that has been going on for a while now. This has nothing to do with race but customer service protection. Analysis / Evaluation The stakeholders in this case are the shareholders and investors, Employees and managers, Customers, Local Communities and the suppliers and other business partners.

The Employees and managers can be affected by this situation because they are directly involved in the environment. The amount of customers this location brings in affects their pay and bonuses. Customers are affect by the poor service and the lack of money for the community. Local communities will not want the restaurant there so that will effect the community value and growth. The suppliers and other business partners that rely on this company will be affected by its gains and losses. The legitimacy and urgency stakeholder attributes are being represented in this case.

It is important the company is urgent about resolving this issue. The ethical responsibility that Red Lobster has is to ensure that their employees practices behaviors and activities that are fair, just and are not prohibited by the law. The economic responsibilities are to provide goods at a fair price and quality for the economy. They also have a legal responsibility to provide a fair practices. The fact that the prime rib was a known problem the company could have not charged the customer and that would have the situation.

The philanthropic responsibilities were not mentioned in this situation therefore we will not be able to analysis them. Recommendations / Conclusion In conclusion, this situation was the fault of the company actions. The company should have not served the prime rib when knowing there was a problem cooking it properly. This could have caused even illnesses. And also they should have a securer means for customer to comment. They did not protect the interest of their customers.

Firing the waitress was just a cover up for their poor business practices. I would recommend that the company have the comment box key secured like they do the safe key. Provide a better feed back system for comments. Also, if they are unable to provide quality serve with a product make it known to the consumer and have them make a knowledgeable purchase decision.